Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: “Seravalli named the Edmonton Oilers as a possible landing spot.”

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GM20: Oilers @ Islanders

Who to Keep an Eye on for Edmonton

#13 Jesse Puljujarvi – It’s getting to be that time where JP should be potting one here. In Jersey he was grinding hard and yes, he was rewarded with an assist, but it’s time to score a goal by his own efforts now. It’ll be a massive challenge too because the Islanders have the likes of Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock, and Alex Romanov for him to deal with and they’re huge, strong, and built for defense. He’s got two assists in his last five games and I’ve got faith that Jesse can get on a bit of a run here.
#36 Jack Campbell – Soupy needs another good start here. The Isles have a group that will drive the blue paint consistently but also a couple of wingers (Lee, Wahlstrom) who can snap one off from distance. So I hope Campbell’s glove is sorted out.
#25 Darnell Nurse – We can’t get through this month fast enough. Nurse has had an atrocious November on every level imaginable. He’s getting too much TOI and he’s trying to do too much while he’s on the ice. His passes aren’t hitting, his shots aren’t doing anything, when he jumps into the play he’s not accomplishing anything. It would be a nice change of pace if we could just see him get in that rocking chair, relax, and do what he does best. F*cking destroy forwards who want to come into his zone instead of waiving his stick at them…

Who to Keep an Eye on for New York

#13 Mat Barzal – Has seven points in his last five including his first two goals of the season. A dangerous player as he is dynamic. He’s starting to catch fire a bit here.
#26 Oliver Wahlstrom – He’s a bit of a late bloomer but his shot is bloody good and he plays with a bit of an edge. A sneaky edge if you will and with Edmonton not really having anybody to police the ice a bit, I wonder if Wahlstrom, Matt Martin, Czikas, Clutterbuck, or Beauvillier end up running around a bit.
#28 Alexander Romanov – I wanted to point out Noah Dobson because he’s New York’s leading scorer on their blueline but Romanov being one of the league’s most dangerous open-ice hitters is worth more to my viewing experience. He literally gives zero shits who he’s lining up to wreck and as I pointed out above, if he does run somebody over, there’s nobody on the Oilers who can do anything about it.

BLH’s Thoughts: Do you get the feeling we’re going to be yelling at the refs tonight? The Islanders have a roster built for big boy hockey and if they even get a hint that the officiating is going to be relaxed, it’s going to be a shit show. This is the kind of scenario where New York could take the 2pts/

Now, that said, Edmonton’s roster is built around skill and the Islanders team isn’t that deep up front. It looks like their bottom six has gone cold offensively and I don’t feel like they’ve got enough in their top six to be able to have their 3rd and 4th lines simply eat the clock while the 1st and 2nd go out there and score. There’s a good chance the Oilers can take advantage of New York tonight in my opinion.

Oilers Now

BLH’s Thoughts: So Stauffer and Brian Lawton were talking about Ryan Reaves yesterday and Lawton’s thoughts were that Reaves would be a good addition IF the differences between him and Evander Kane could be worked out. He said the 35yr old enforcer could be the kind of player that could bring a room together but also that Edmonton would be paying a bit of a premium.

I’m not on board but we’ll see if the Islanders throw the Oilers around tonight. If it’s bad, Ken Holland might be forced into shaking up the roster a bit. For me, I’d model my 4th line around NJ’s (Miles Wood-Michael McLeod-Nathan Bastian). Three big guys who can skate, hit, fight, score, and kill penalties.

Wayne Simmonds was placed on waivers yesterday, he’d be a guy I’d entertain for the 4th line. Zach Sanford (Stauffer said he’s getting claimed for sure and also compared him to Bastian) is another guy I would get for the 4th line IF the intention is to add another element to the team.

So, lets say Edmonton got one of those waiver claims. What if the line combos looked like this:

Foegele – McDavid – Hyman
Janmark – Draisaitl – Puljujarvi
Holloway – RNH – Kostin
Simmonds – McLeod – Ryan OR Shore – McLeod – Sanford

It’s still not ideal obviously but for this thought exercise maybe it’d suffice. Personally, I like Sanford over Simmonds because there’s more of a player in the former Blue and he’s only 28yrs old. Simmonds, like Reaves, will take on all comers though. So there’s that, however going back Sanford’s way, he only makes 850k/yr. Maybe at the very least the Oilers circle back in the summer if they can’t get him this season.

Either way, this team could benefit from acquiring somebody who will initiate some intensity into Edmonton’s games. I said recently that they lack a shit disturber and I stand by that.

Trade Rumors

NHLRumors.me

Teams looking for more toughness could surely make a push for the winger, and Seravalli named the Edmonton Oilers as a possible landing spot.
- The Oilers’ bottom six certainly could use a bit of jolt. Although Reaves does not offer much in terms of offense, his immensely physical style of play and grit could make him a great addition to their fourth line. Furthermore, he could serve as a protector for Oilers superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

BLH’s Thoughts: Has Ken Holland hired a lot of tough guys who couldn’t really contribute otherwise during his career? He had Probert and Kocur for years in Detroit as well as Darren McCarty but they played bigger roles too and in the cases of Probert/Kocur, times were different back then.

My feeling is that I think if Edmonton is going to bring in some tougher players is that they’ll need to be functional as well. They have to be able to contribute on the ice aside from making mince meat out of the opponents’ faces.

Tell me if you see this as well. I’ve been noticing a lack of bite around Edmonton’s own net. The forwards on the other teams are getting late pokes in at Skinner and Campbell and nothing is being done about it. This is troublesome to me but when I think about it, I’m not that surprised considering who’s protecting the goalie. Darnell Nurse doesn’t really play that game anymore, Cody Ceci won’t initiate, Brett Kulak won’t either, Markus Niemelainen and Tyson Barrie couldn’t be bothered grabbing somebody, and lastly, Evan Bouchard simply isn’t that sort of dman but he has appeared more ornery as of recent.

With Evander Kane out of the lineup, who will be the one who steps up and drags his team into the battle?